One Foot in Front of the Other A Pokemon Tale
by Strong Belwas
Summary: With the death of his father, a young boy becomes the man of his house. In these trying times he is accompanied by his fathers Pokemon, a mysterious Dragonite that knows more about his Father's past than he does. Rated T for some mature themes in later chapters.


_**Hi Guys Irishshuffle here, this is my first chapter of; One Foot in front of the Other. The inspiration just took me one day while playing Pokemon Fire-Red to write a story. In this chapter I introduce the main character, Iris Lightstave. Hope you enjoy, leave me some reviews and Enjoy :D**_

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The rain dripped through the curls of his red hair, it rain down his face and obscured his tears. He was dressed in all black. He watched in solemn silence as they lowered his father into the ground. He didn't feel sad, hedidn't feel pain in his heart, all he felt was a growing numbness. Like someone had come and injected morphine into his entire body. Someone must have raised an umbrella over the top of him, as he felt the rain stop. He turned to see his mother, dressed in black, tears rolling down her face. The face was an almost exact replica of his own, bottle-green eyes, high check bones and laugh lines around her mouth. He dully noted that once his mother did laugh. But since his father became ill the laughter had slowly dryed up. Now, it was dead, buried with his father. She layed a hand ontop of his fiery hair, the only thing that would show that he was his fathers son, "Come now, Iris, we have to get moving, the Proffesor won't wait forever" she said dully, he nodded his head, "One moment, mom, I- I just need to tell dad a few more things". She just nodded and moved away, taking the umbrella with her. The rain streamed again through Iris's hair, he knelt by his father's grave and said his farewells. When he was done he stood and walked, not toward his Mother, but in the general direction of home. She didn't chase after him, she knew he was fine to make the walk by himself, although it was still quite a walk to Pallet Town.

"I Stanley Lightstave, being of sound body and mind, do hereby sign over all of my worldy possesions onto my wife Mellisa Lightstave to look after until my son Iris Lightstave comes of the appropriate age to claim them. " the Solicitor spoke in dull tones. He sounded bored. Iris wanted nothing more than to hit the man, this will was the last thing written by his father, and this man hadn't even offered his mother a 'I'm sorry for your loss'. He held himself back, for the sake of his mother. She was close to tears, he could see it, every few minutes she would hang her head slightly and let a tear slip out while the Solicitor kept reading on. Iris envied her, she could cry freely. He could not, he was the only man in the house now, with his Father gone and his little brother to young to understand why, Irish had to step up and take care of them all. And that mean't no crying, he would not let himself cry a single tear. "Do you both agree to these arangments?" They nodded in unison " Then you will both need to sign here, and you will become the official owner of the house and possesions of Stanley Lightstave" he offered them both a pen. Irish noticed how his mothers hands shook when she tried to write her signature, it was a wonder she even managed to hold the pen. With a small sigh Iris scribbled down his signature at the bottom of the paper. After a few minutes of talking to the Solicitor, they both stood and exited the building and again Iris walked rather than get a ride in the car of the Proffesor. The Proffesor was a nice enough man, and he had helped Iris alot since his fathers death. But Iris always got the feeling that he wanted something from him. To many times had he come into the kitchen to find his mother talking with him about something, and he would notice the small red, phone-like device the Proffesor seemed to slip back into his pocket whenever he entered the room. What worried him more was that his mother was consenting to it.

As he walked away the Proffesor called out to him, "Be careful, wild Pokemon hide in the tall grass, it's dangerous to go without a Pokemon of your own". Iris said nothing and kept walking tapping the small red and white ball that was attached too his belt. It was a Pokeballl, one of his fathers, his father had only ever had one Pokemon, one that he told Iris that he fished up in the Safari Zone as a Dratini. The two had become fast friends and eventually, with much training on his fathers part, it evolved into a Dragonair and later into a Dragonite. It had never truly battled before, it had just served as a partner for his father, a friend. And now it was his, he hadn't let it out of it's Pokeball yet, he was partly afraid. What if it didn't like him? What if it hurt him, or worse, his mother or younger Brother. He didn't even know its gender, even though there are pictures in the house of him as a smiling baby in the Dragonite's arms. Before he knew it he was at the door of his house in Pallet Town, as soon as he set foot in the door he knew something was wrong, the Proffesor's car was in the driveway, but there was no talking in the house. "Mom?" He called out, and to his relief he got an answer, "In the kitchen, Iris, come in here, Proffesor Oak and I want to talk to you about something the Proffesor would like you to do". Iris's heart sank, he trudged toward thee kitchen with thoughts of the little red device running through his head.


End file.
